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Paternity Leave‐Taking and Father Engagement
Author(s) -
Petts Richard J.,
Knoester Chris
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/jomf.12494
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , parental leave , longitudinal study , social psychology , medicine , work (physics) , mechanical engineering , pathology , engineering
Evidence suggests that paternity leave‐taking is associated with higher levels of father involvement, but research has been limited in its focus on cross‐sectional analyses and indicators of father involvement used. This study uses national longitudinal data to examine whether paternity leave‐taking is associated with 2 indicators of father engagement when children are infants, whether paternity leave‐taking is associated with trajectories of father engagement during the first few years of a child's life, and whether the relationships between paternity leave and father engagement are explained by fathering commitments and attitudes. The results suggest that longer periods of leave are associated with more frequent engagement in developmental tasks and caretaking when children are infants as well as during the first few years of children's lives. There is also evidence that father attitudes partially explain the relationships between length of paternity leave and father engagement.